2016 Oakridge Over the Shoulder Pinot Noir

Cracka Value Rating

Cracka Review

Pinot Noir this good should surely come with a greater price tag? Well, the idea is for you to be startled by the quality of this everyday drinking red from Yarra superstars Oakridge. It’s lifted with the exotic Pinot aromas that make it such a seductive grape - including raspberry, strawberry and spice - which continue onto the supple palate. The structure and softness of the tannins ensure this will be a crowd-pleasing style just right to be paired with mushroom risotto.

Winemaker's Notes

Our Over The Shoulder wines are great examples of wines that typify varietal characteristics of the Yarra Valley. Wines which are fresh, vibrant and medium bodied. Low alcohol wines with intensity, marvellous tightness and sharp focus.

Winemaking Notes: Fruit de-stemmed to open whole berry (90%) and whole bunch (10%) fermentations of 14-22 days duration. Ferments where allowed to proceed naturally and without temperature control, allowing peak temperatures to reach 32°C. Once finished, ferments where pressed to a mixture of barriques, hogsheads and puncheons for malolactic conversion and maturation on lees for 10 months prior to blending and bottling with a single filtration.

Vintage: A warm spring and mild summer has resulted in excellent crops and ideal harvesting conditions. The wines have outstanding depth of flavour and structure.

Vineyards: This Pinot Noir was mostly sourced from vineyards in Gladysdale, Woori Yallock and Coldstream using handpicked grapes and crafted using traditional methods.

Alc/vol: 14.4%

expert reviews about

2016 Oakridge Over the Shoulder Pinot Noir

Expert Reviews

Campbell Mattinson (2016 Vintage) says

This one goes straight into the ‘buy’ column. It’s not overly expensive but as soon you put it near your nose/mouth all thoughts of price go out the window. It smells and tastes real, varietal, inviting and more. It’s sweet-sour, slightly herbal, smoky, sinewy. It’s light in a good way. It rushes through the mouth but then lingers through the finish. The stated alcohol seems high but I didn’t notice it in the wine; all I noticed was how much I wanted to keep going back for more.

2017 - 2021

91

Campbell Mattinson (2015 Vintage) says

Oakridge’s Over the Shoulder Pinot Noir has become a solid performer. Keen value territory. 2015 was an excellent vintage. I looked at this over the course of a couple of days and the expression on its face changed but the quality didn’t. This is better than handy. It’s sweet with ripe, cherried fruit but tangy and cranberried too, with a subtle meaty-spiciness to boot. Tannin is firm, almost minerally. Length is sound. At first I thought the sweetness of the fruit was fractionally too overt, almost tipping into Fanta territory, but a more savoury impression was made as it breathed. Good stuff. Everyone’s happy.

2016 - 2020

91

James Halliday (2012 Vintage) says

Deep, bright cherry; lifted and fragrant with fresh cherry, ironstone and a suggestion of sage; the palate is lively and full of crunchy red fruits and taut acidity, finishing with expansive fine-grained tannins.

To 2017

James Halliday Wine Companion 2014

90

Campbell Mattinson (2012 Vintage) says

Oakridge pinot noir has come a long way in recent years. This release was grown in the Seville, Yarra Glen, Coldstream, Woori Yallock and Gembrook sub-regions of the Yarra Valley. What a complex beast it is too. At an affordable price. Meaty, spicy, gamey – and yet flush with tangy, cherried fruit. Impact, texture, personality and length. Chalky tannin. Needs a little more bottle age but it’s heading in entirely the right direction. Bravo, you might say.

2014-2019+

Campbell Mattinson

92

James Halliday (2011 Vintage) says

Brilliant, light crimson; right in the heartland of Yarra Valley Pinot, with streams of small red fruits and savoury, foresty nuances woven together, the overall length and balance excellent.